Dozens of Kenyan athletes protest at Athletics Kenya headquarters

Kenyan athletes have occupied the Athletics Kenya (AK) headquarters in Nairobi. According to an unnamed Kenyan athlete, “it is a peaceful demonstration with dozens of athletes; some of them are well-known.”

The athletes have decided that they want the President, Isaiah Kiplagat to step down because the organization is being investigated by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which is the worldwide governing body for the sport of Athletics. They are being investigated for doping issues, stalling on acting on positive drug tests and because there are accusations that Nike has paid millions of dollars to AK in a sponsorship deal and the athletes have seen little or none of that money.

The Vice-President David Okeyo is currently being investigated by Kenyan police for allegedly siphoning off those funds from the sponsorship deal between the national association and Nike.

The placards that the athletes are holding up say, “Isaiah Kiplagat and David Okeyo, your time is over,” “Enough is enough, blood suckers,” and “We must have a new constitution.”

Kenyan athlete Kipngeno Ben said, “We have been struggling to see to it that Kiplagat leaves office as we believe him and others below him not only misuse their positions, but they collude with agents to cover up those athletes who dope.”

In a move to clean up the sport of athletics, the IAAF has already suspended Russia for apparent systematic doping, extortion and bribery. They may not be able to compete during the 2016 Olympic Games that will be taking place in Rio next summer.

Before the Russian suspension, Kipchoge Keino, the chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee warned that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was seriously considering suspending Kenya over the doping issues.

ARD Television exposed Kenyan doping in 2013. Reporter Hajo Seppelt went undercover as a sports agent in Kenya to see if he could acquire performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), what he unearthed was eye-opening. The documentary that ARD broadcasted was a bombshell at the time and since then approximately 35 Kenyan athletes have been suspended for testing positive for PEDs.